Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/187

Rh

E WELL assured that on our side

The abiding oceans fight,

Though headlong wind and heaping tide

Make us their sport to-night.

By force of weather not of war

In jeopardy we steer:

Then welcome Fate's discourtesy

Whereby it shall appear,

How in all time of our distress,

And our deliverance too,

The game is more than the player of the game,

And the ship is more than the crew!

Out of the mist into the mirk

The glimmering combers roll.

Almost these mindless waters work

As though they had a soul—

Almost as though they leagued to whelm

Our flag beneath their green:

Then welcome Fate's discourtesy

Whereby it shall be seen, etc.

Be well assured, though wave and wind

Have mightier blows in store,

That we who keep the watch assigned

Must stand to it the more;

And as our streaming bows rebuke

Each billow's baulked career,

Sing, welcome Fate's discourtesy

Whereby it is made clear, etc.